Kolisi Feeds The Thousands

While many professional rugby players are spending their time at home, doing what they can in terms of exercise in anticipation of the unknown day when sport will be revisited, Springbok captain Siya Kolisi is pumping all of his considerable energy into saving the lives of thousands of South Africans.

The South African government implemented lockdown procedures in March in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19. However, while done with the best intentions, a tragic side-effect of this decision is that a great many people have lost their jobs, unable to make ends meet and are subsequently starving.

Siya’s recently formed Kolisi Foundation started off supplying gloves and sanitizers to front-line medical staff across the country. Now, however, the focus is on food parcels.

The situation in South Africa faces could be dire, with the national treasury warning that the possibility of 7 million people losing their jobs is very real and may bring the country’s unemployment rate to a staggering 50%.

“A lot of people are going hungry, in fact there were a lot before the pandemic, but with people being cut from work and without a job, they can’t even get the little bit (of food) they used to have every day,” Kolisi said.

“We are trying to help out where we can, especially in the township where it is really hard because people don’t have the land to farm. Then in the rural areas, people might have land, but they don’t have access to water. Those are the new challenges that we see every day.”

The 28 year old Springbok openside shot to prominence last year when he led his team on a heroic and successful quest for the William Webb Ellis trophy in Japan. Still on top of the world, the young man’s humility and depth of human spirit seems to know no bounds, “I thought I knew what struggle was until I went to Limpopo,” he said, “Seeing people without water, using water from the side of the road or that the animals are drinking from. You will see a little kid actually bathing in that water. It was really painful to watch.”

Kolisi is allowed to travel during lockdown as his foundation is considered an essential service. This weekend he returns to Zwide, the township in which he grew up.

“We are [feeding] 500 in my township, all the streets that I used to walk and all the people I used to go and ask for bread ... now I am going to go and try and help out for the next couple of months.” he said.